The PosthumanENGL 165EC - Spring 2003, Rita Raley
What does it mean to be posthuman, human, or even alive? What have been the effects of the encounter between humans and intelligent machines? To borrow from a book that we will read, how have we become posthuman? This course will investigate the category, advent, and attributes of the posthuman, beginning with cybernetics and informatics. After one unit devoted to the iconic figure of the posthuman age - the cyborg - we will engage the philosophical discourse on humanism and the category of Man. Consideration of the problematics of race, gender, and sexuality will suggest a decentered human subject, no longer thought to be universal. The third unit of the course will engage some of the philosophical, cultural, and social implications of biotechnology (with some attention to genetic engineering, AI, artificial life, transgenic species, and technologies of reproduction). We will also consider some of the art and music that have emerged with posthumanism.